SOOKIE HONG
3E Company, 4520 East West Highway, Suite 440, Bethesda, MD 20814 USA

Abstract

As governments, industries, and companies search for clean, safe alternatives to hazardous chemical substances, green chemistry innovation presents itself as a growing business opportunity throughout the world. For businesses looking to address this need, the challenge lies in successfully navigating the regulatory requirements hazardous substances are subject to, and ensuring that proposed alternatives are viable. As a result, businesses looking to deliver their innovations to new countries must stay aware of the regulatory trends that could affect their entrance into the market.
This article studies various cases of chemicals substitution in Asia as a part of green chemistry management and the extent to which EU REACH Authorization procedure has affected chemicals substitution in South Korea, China, and Japan. With exception of South Korea, whose K-REACH contains explicit provisions for chemical substitution, China and Japan do not provide regulatory framework of chemicals substitution under their respective equivalence of REACH, but rather operate outside of it.

EU REACH AND CHEMICALS SUBSTITUTION

The EU's Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals, commonly known as REACH, has significantly affected chemical management frameworks across Asia. One of the EU's main objectives through REACH is to bring "greener," safer chemicals onto the market by actively pursuing a policy of finding safer alternatives to more hazardous substances currently in use.
Green chemistry management under EU REACH is the "A" in the acronym REACH. A fundamental part of REACH, under the Authorization procedure, chemicals are identified as substances of very high concern (SVHC) and eventually phased out through chemical substitution, unless an authorization is obtained for specific uses of SVHCs.
When considering the continued use of SVHCs, as listed on REACH's Annex XIV, called the Authorization List, companies have a deadline, or "sunset date," set for each Annex XIV-listed substance, after which these substances may no longer be used in the EU, if said companies have not secured an authorization for specific uses. Furthermore, to apply for an authorization, companies must come up ...